Ben Shelton ended Carlos Alcaraz's title reign in the latest-finishing match in US Open history, pulling out a 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory in a marathon tussle that ended at 3:33 a.m. ET Wednesday. Alcaraz had his 18-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments ended in a match that started just after 11 p.m. and lasted 4 hours, 28 minutes. Thousands of fans stayed to the end and Shelton benefited from a home-crowd boost even against the popular Alcaraz, with fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium chanting his name along with "USA! USA!".

Shelton next plays No. 11 seed Frances Tiafoe, who kept coming back until he had reached his third US Open semifinal, beating Alex Michelsen 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (10-6) on Tuesday. The U.S. is guaranteed to have a representative in Sunday's final as it seeks its first men's major title since Andy Roddick lifted the title here in 2003. The match between Shelton and Tiafoe on Friday will be the first major meeting in the semifinals or later between Black American men in the Open era.

One will become the first Black American man to reach a US Open final since Arthur Ashe in 1972. Shelton seized control by winning nine straight games from early in the second set until he had a 3-0 lead in the third. But Alcaraz, in his first tournament since April after returning from a right wrist injury, battled back even as he vomited before the start of the final set.

Alcaraz ran off four straight points in the tiebreaker to go ahead 5-3, but Shelton came back behind some of his powerful serves that can exceed 140 mph, along with some mistakes from Alcaraz. Shelton eventually finished it off with a 146 mph serve his opponent couldn't get back.